Invest in the Global Fund: Reason 3. Cost of Inaction

The Global Fund is on course to have saved 22 million lives around the world by the end of this year. This number shows we’re on the right track to end epidemics, but our collective response in the next decade will be decisive.

Achieving the Global Fund’s US$13 billion replenishment will mean being able to accelerate this progress, particularly toward eradicating tuberculosis. By 2020, TB incidence (new cases) and deaths could both be reduced by 21%, case detection increased to 75% and, most importantly, implementing countries will begin to reap the benefits of better health among their citizens.

Recent progress on TB has been significant but still very slow – and too reliant on existing methods and technologies. In May 2016 a new report, commissioned by the UK government, estimated that by 2050 drug-resistant infections could kill more people than cancer and cost the world $100 trillion. Drug-resistant TB alone is currently responsible for one-third of all antibiotic-resistance-related deaths – and resistant strains of TB and HIV can be passed on.

Drug resistance increases the cost and difficulty of getting prevention and treatment services to people infected with and affected by HIV, TB and malaria. If we don’t invest now, we risk undermining Global Fund-driven progress to date, as well as increasing rates of disease and death, and future impacts on the global economy.